OW E N M OTO R I N G C LU B REVS - News Letter August 2015 Rally News Paul Kendrick continues to modify the Mk1 Mexico to big wing BDA spec, not sure when it will make its first outing, hopefully this year. HRCR Old Stager championship leaders Clive King / Anton Bird win free entry to Wales Rally GB. Next championship round will be the Manx after cancellation of Sweet Lamb Stages (20 entries only)!! James Nicholls finishes 12th O/all on Radnor Pace Maker, what a great result. OMC AGM in June was very poorly attended. We would like to see more members involved on a regular basis. Too few put on many events, both social and competition. Please come along and support/help us. Graham Hill Sprint A great success under new leadership. Congratulations to Robert Cotterell.
Clive King / Anton Bird, 1st HRCR and First in Class Rally North Wales 2015
Club News. Since Wayne Langridge our former REVS editor retired from committee due to work commitments the club have received a few negative comments re the limited publication of any club news or magazines. We only have nine people on committee, one organises three club events, another member organises two events and one on AGBO duties almost constantly and now writing this publication, all others have contributing posts. The position of REVS editor has remained vacant and will not be filled permanently from current members of OMC committee due to their existing overloaded commitments. SO members can some one step up to the challenge as mag editor, quickly !! It would appear that many club members wish to compete on our quality OMC events but very few want to come and help the event organisational teams or assist with any general club functions. This attitude can only end in disaster as the existing overloaded organizers have no one behind them to train and eventually take over the running of our events‌. So you could literally end up with nothing. Please contact any committee member should you wish to contribute in any way at all, you will be appreciated and made very welcome.
O we n M o t o r i n g C l u b News Continues.
Classic Section,
2016 Awards Presentation evening will change format to a more formal occasion, to be held at Great Barr Golf Club, possibly with subsidised ticket cost, more details
In Brief as this is covered by the sections own News Letter. Two good shows this year so far with exceptional turn out at Weston Park and fifteen quality cars for the Cars in the Park show at Beacon Park Lichfield just a few weeks ago. The pick being Pete Smith`s MG TC a recent acquisition and Paul Moran's Downton Mini Cooper, this Mini was actually an ex Rubery Owen company car !!!! Fact confirmed by David Owen. A few members and their cars recently visited a new local gathering at St. Peters Church little Aston, the Vicar Rev. Adam Gompertz is a real petrol head and organised a sizeable get together in the church grounds. Some very impressive machinery turned up including an original Type 35 Bugatti no less !!!
later in year. Social News See Article.
2015 Classic Car Run Sunday Sept 27.
NEC Classic Show November 2015 We now have confirmation of show stand space.
The route planning is now complete for this event, an entry form is included with this publication and is also available on the OMC web pages.
Ypres 2015 See Article.
www.owenmotoringclub.co.uk A good turn out of cars was seen at the Shugborough classic show on Aug 9th..
WRC Four members make trip to 1000 Lakes WRC Rally Finland, story and pictures next time. Graham Hill Sprint See Article. AGBO Rally 2016 Date now fixed at March 20th.
Contact: Martin Parkes or Roger Tristram our classic coordinators for further details of future classic events.. Above: Downton Mini Cooper belonging to Paul Moran from Pelsall, a superb restoration. Pictured with David Owen OBE.
O we n M o t o r i n g C l u b AGBO Rally. [Road & Stage] Anton Bird is attempting to write the history of this event from its inception in 1960 through to our present format as a stage rally at Weston Park. Club archives have produced a wealth of information but a few years (The Road Rally Years) are a bit thin on detail, a couple with no information. If any members have any information no matter how small and trivial you may think, please forward to antonbird@talktalk.net especially the following years, 1961,67,69,76,82,84 Does anyone have any details of the events we ran at Wilbarston Air Field, this event ran three or four times at that venue 1989,90 for definite, did it run in 88 or 91? When this events history eventually gets completed, as it ever can be, it will be printed and made available to the club membership where required and of course archives.. Club Members, remaining events for 2015: Barri Wilmot / Clare Bird. VAUXHALL NOVA, HOE championship: Carfax Stages, Patriot Stages, Donnington Stages. Clive King (Wton)/Anton Bird (OMC) MK1 MINI COOPER S, HRCR Old stager championship: Manx, Cambrian, Wales Rally GB (Award from North Wales win) Paul Kendrick, MK1 ESCORT, no plans until car is completed. James Nicholls NOVA or PEUGEOT 205. No Details except engine is out of 205 Tom Bishop No Details Wayne Langridge FORD MUSTANG - No details If any OMC competitors in any discipline wish to be mentioned in this section in future publications please contact me with details. Social Scene up date. June - The first evening pub meet of the summer produced a good turn out of classics and many members at the “Red Lion” Longdon Green, recently refurbished and very nice too. July - Shame about the second meet which was held at “The Owl” in Lichfield [Formerly The Shoulder of Mutton] little to no interest in this with two classics and only a few club members attending. The third meet has been cancelled. July- BMW MINI Cowley, factory tour, ten members making the trip, witnessing car manufacture in one of the most up to date facilities in the world, this was impressive in all departments, a superb guided tour of the plant, body and vehicle assembly took 3 hours. A trip well worth the effort of going to Oxford for. Future trips are being investigated including: Toyota Manufacturing plant at Burton on Trent, Morgan Motor Co. Malvern and another trip to the Jaguar manufacturing facility at Castle Bromwich....any details for these will be published later in the year. Future Social events for 2015 include: 21 Oct Skittles Night at club, including the famous Fish & Chips from the van!! (Contact Clare if you wish to attend) 17 Nov (Tuesday) Mad O `Rourkes Tipton, another visit to the famous Pie Factory. 16 Dec. Club Christmas party.
Please support the Social Section, a lot of effort is at times wasted due to lack of membership interest.
Ypres Rally June 2015 This year was the twelfth year in succession that the group have made the trip to this still iconic rally, early boat this time on Thursday morning due to the chaos in Calais, arrive in Ypres a lot earlier in the day than usual. Book in at the farm out in Pachendale and then into town. Great atmosphere in Ypres town square every year as the top teams use this location for service, a longer look round some lunch and then drive down to Neuirkirk (only 15km) for the shake down / top 20 qualifying stage on Thursday evening. Only for the main field this, so no historics included and to be honest a little mundane, it is getting difficult to differentiate between the makes any more as the CitroĂŤn, R5 Fiesta and Peugeot 308 all look very similar and sound exactly the same. Pick of the bunch for me was the crop of Porsche GT3`s what a sound they make and very spectacular. The time schedule for the main event and the historic event clashed more than ever this year, thus making it difficult to watch each category in sequence. But as happens on every trip to Ypres we tend to concentrate on the historic section which is much more spectacular than the main event and always has a great variety of entrants, eg from an ex works Lancia Delta Intergrali to an Austin A35 could not get any more diverse. Friday three stages and Saturday four stages are covered only watching the main field once. Historic field is spectacular as usual with a tremendous line up of machinery we don't see in the UK, this is not an Escort procession !! Having been so many times we know where to find the best action. Great food, exceptional Belgian Beer, a wonderful atmosphere, usually great weather and very hospitable accommodation, what more could you ask as a rally fan. This is not an expensive trip to make and I don't understand why some of our rally orientated members don't drive us mad to join the trip. Must be good we keep going back !!
GRAHAM HILL TROPHY SPRINT – 14 JUNE 2015 CURBOROUGH Before writing this, it is with great sadness to report the passing of Tony Matthews. Tony and Shirley ran the Graham Hill Sprint for over 50 years which became one of the most popular events in the sprint calendar. We shall always be indebted for his efforts as organiser of the event as well as former Chairman of our club. I knew it would be a hard act to follow in putting on the 50th anniversary of the sprint, but was determined to make sure we maintained the expected high standards. As it turned out we received a full entry of 75 cars along with support from the BRM Association and John Burt for displaying his fabulous 1972 P160 BRM Grand Prix racing car in Marlboro livery. The car had been used by Niki Lauda in the 1973 championship. John also gave us a couple of impressive circuit demonstration runs. We sited the car in the paddock, competitors gathered around, and applauded after the firing up of the very loud engine. As usual, it was all about teamwork. Simon and Lynn Whittick kindly looked after the entries and event paperwork, whilst Dave Pattison from Shenstone CC, acted as Clerk of the Course. A number of committee members assisted with various duties, including marshalling, course control and results. We ended up with a surplus of marshals with support from the BMMC. We used the figure of eight circuit, that has become popular, and practise commenced at 9.15am. There was a good selection of cars taking part that included Owen members Derrick Wallbank (Clio), Tom Bishop (Micra), Martin Parkes (Imp), Rich Yapp (MX5), David Allman (Peugeot 205), Bill Rushton (Escort Cosworth), Bob Ridge-Stearn (Lotus Elise) and Dave Greenwood (Westfield). There were two practise runs with the timed ones starting at 1.15pm. Thankfully the weather remained dry and we were treated to some fine sprinting with several new class course records. The star of the show was Bradley Dickerson in a Jedi who set a new record of 52.97 secs for the figure of eight course. Other impressive drives came from Graham Harvey (Mini), Peter Shenton (Escort) who received the “Driver of the Day” award, and Mark Williams (Peugeot 205) on two wheels at the mole hill. Congratulations to Dave Greenwood in receiving the Graham Hill Cup - Best Owen, Johnny Hume (Renault Alpine) – Best prepared car, and Emma Melhuish (Westfield) – Fastest Lady. Special thanks goes to Martin Parkes and Roger Tristram for a good display of classic cars. Overall a really well organised sprint that everyone enjoyed. Tony would have been proud of us! BOB COTTERELL
OMC Championships (up to 12.8.15) Stage Rally Driver 1 B.Wilmot [1] 16.4 2 P.Kendrick [1] 15.0 3 J.Nicholls [1] 13.6
Road Rally Driver 1 J.Nicholls [2] 19.4
Stage Rally Co Driver 1 T.Bishop [6] 65.7 Q 2 A.Bird [3] 50.6 Q 3 C.Bird [1] 16.4
Road Rally Nav. 1 D.Allman [3] 30.3 Q
Auto Test 1 T.Bishop [4] 89.7 Q 2 J.Nicholls [1] 28.5 3 S.Whittick [2] 19.0
Sprint 1 D.Wallbank [1] 22.2 2 B.Rushton [1] 20.0 3 T.Bishop [1] 13.3
[3 Events in all categories to qualify- send your results to Melvyn Cox] Marshals Section Further details on any events please contact Chief Marshal Ruth Langford. 07855 487426 or.. owenmarshals@hotmail.co.uk Sept.5/6. Promenade Stage, Birkenhead, OMC marshals attending. Sept.27 OMC Classic Car tour, starts Bass Brewery Burton on Trent 10am. Marshals are required for this event to cover the start area, Carsington Water parking area & the finish at Critch tram way museum. Oct.18 Bright Sparks Auto Test, event run by OMC ..Curborough marshals req. [Organisers please forward dates of events should you wish them included in this section] Results Carfax Stages, Barri Wilmot/Clare Bird, 19 oall/3rd class A, first finish this year due to problems with new throttle body set up. Car & Event report next time. Next OMC News Issue [November] Rally Report and pictures WRC Finland, Shugborough Classic Show, Bright Sparks report & pictures, Manx Mini tales, OMC Classic Tour Report & pictures, New members section. We require your news, event reports, results good or bad, marshalling requirements, wants and sales, etc. Send to antonbird@talktalk.net
O we n M o t o r i n g C l u b Gallery
OMC @ Cars in the Park
OMC @ Practical Classic Show
OMC Graham Hill Sprint - June
OMC @ Weston Park Show
REVS Show Little Aston
AGBO action 2015 OMC members (left) Oliver Davies (5th win) & Graham Brindley
O we n M o t o r i n g C l u b
Once again OMC have secured stand space at this prestigious NEC show, this will be our sixteenth consecutive year, again we plan to show some quality exhibits, hopefully to include an F1 BRM race car from the 60`s or 70`s. The club will be allocated a limited number of passes for each day. Attendees for stand manning or prospective members who wish to exhibit a car please forward any intention to Martin Parkes or Robert Cotterell our show coordinators.